It's no secret that Benedict Cumberbatch did some seriously world-class smaugging in "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug," a performance only to be potentially topped by his Smaug-tastic scenes in "The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies." But now, we're finally getting the backstory on his audition process, complete with clips of his original audition tapes that make it pretty clear why he scored the role. Oof, that voice.

The video also shows Cumberbatch doing some cool, creepy/sexy snakey stuff with his neck, heralding the amazing physicality he brought to his motion-capture performance as the dragon. Meanwhile, the monologue is taken straight from the J.R.R. Tolkien source material, but for some reason that lip-smacking bit about eating six ponies didn't make into the script. Too bad; everyone knows Smaug is a pony-eater.